Twisted
by KarmaRed
Summary: AU: What if Rapunzel hadn't been the only child stolen for their hair? What if Eugene hadn't been the one to find her and take her to the lanterns?
1. Prologue

**AN: So this is an old story idea. It's been on my computer since... March? April? It's been a while. I'm making edits to the old version, but for the most part, I've got this, chapter 1, and half of chapters 2 and 3 done. Since this here is just the prologue, it's shorter than the actual chapters. I hope you guys enjoy it :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tangled.**

_Our story begins with the sun._

_Many years ago, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens. From this drop of sun grew a magic, golden flower. This flower possessed the ability to heal the sick and injured._

_Several centuries later, a young man found the flower. His wife had been ill for quite some time, and he had been searching for some sort of medicine to help her. He had heard rumors about a cure, and had set out to track it down. Upon finding this treasure, he wanted to save it, just in case he ever needed it again, and he only picked one petal, leaving the rest for later use. He took this one petal back to his wife, giving it to her as medicine._

_The magic of the golden flower healed the woman. Not long afterwards, she gave birth to a son, a healthy boy with thick, golden hair._

_Unbeknownst to the man, someone else had found the flower before he had: an old woman, a greedy old hag who used the flower's magic to stay young for centuries, known as Gothel. When she discovered that someone else had found her flower, she grew furious. She didn't want anyone else to be using her magic, so she tracked this man down, intending to slaughter him for what he knew._

_When she reached the man's home, however, she noticed the child, sleeping peacefully in a cradle in one corner of the parents' room. His golden hair strikingly resembled the gold petals of her precious flower. As she made the connection, a new plan began to form in her head. A much more painful punishment, even worse than death._

_When the couple woke the next morning, their son was gone._

_Gothel took the infant to a tower, a tall building hidden deep within the forest, miles away from his parents. There, she kept him locked up, shielding him from the outside world. Within the cold stone walls of this tower, she raised him as her own._

_Her suspicion about the boy's hair turned out to be correct. Using the song she used to sing to make herself young, she discovered that this boy's hair had the same healing abilities as the flower. Because of this, she simply used his powers instead of the flower's, not willing to risk someone else finding it when she had no need for it now._

_At least, so she thought._

_The young boy's power was limited. Every time Gothel gained more youth, it took some of his very life force out of him, slowly killing him as the years passed. By the time he was eight years old, he was almost as frail as a walking skeleton._

_One night, Gothel was brushing his hair and singing her special song, when something strange happened. Instead of getting new life, it was as if the hair's magic was pulling life out of her, absorbing it back into the child. When his hair stopped glowing, it was no longer golden, but a shiny copper shade. Since neither of them were used to what had happened, they were both significantly weakened by this; the boy was confined to his bed for about a week._

_Gothel knew something was wrong. Quickly, silently, she ran to her flower as fast as her aging legs could carry her. When she got there, she got the worst shock of her lifetime._

_The flower was gone._

_In a brief moment of panic, she had completely lost her grasp on reality. As soon as she got it back, she noticed the several boats sailing away, toward the distant kingdom. At this moment, Gothel knew just who had stolen her flower._

_The next morning brought with it a new wave of shock over the boy. When Gothel returned home, she carried in her arms two small children, a little girl with beautiful, golden hair and another girl with pale ivory hair. His "mother" was smiling gently down at the tiny bundles when she showed him, as if these children gave her new life; something the boy could no longer do. With this realization came a haunting feeling of guilt, something that would not leave him for several years._

_As these new babies grew, the boy discovered their names: Rapunzel and Hazel. Rapunzel was mother's new favorite: the one she always brought gifts back for, the one she always told stories to, and the one she now sang the song to. Her special song. It used to be their song, before that girl showed up._

_As the years went by, envy and neglect added to the overall guilt feeling. However much he hated his new life, though, it wouldn't stop him from loving his sisters. He couldn't exactly be completely envious of Rapunzel either, though: she wasn't even allowed to climb on the roof of the tower, like he was._

_The stone walls of that tower couldn't hide everything from them, despite all Gothel's efforts to do so. Every year on the girls' birthday, thousands of floating lights were launched into the sky. The boy would watch them every time from the roof of the tower, gazing at them with intense curiosity, learning so much over the years yet not even knowing what these strange lights were. Since Gothel was always asleep when the lights took flight, he would always take advantage of the moment and bring his sisters out onto the roof with him, especially when they got older. It was always what made the two of them happiest._

_And for those brief moments in time, all those years, all that time, it was when he was truly at his happiest as well._


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: Here's the real chapter 1! Hope you guys liked the prologue. It was short, but needed to be there. Unlike in The Heart of the Storm, I'm not putting the Tangled songs in this. I don't feel they're necessary. I might put in ****_I See the Light_**** but definitely none of the other ones. So if you wanted that... sorry :( But anyways, hope you like this chapter :)**

The tiny green chameleon scampered through the window and looked around frantically, then skittered toward a painted flowerpot, pressing himself to the side and blending in perfectly. Panting heavily, he waited a few seconds in complete silence.

"Ha!" Suddenly the shutters on the window flew open, revealing a girl with long, golden blonde hair. Her green eyes sparkled mischievously as she leaned back inside. "Hmm…" she murmured to herself, "I guess Pascal's not hiding out _here."_

The chameleon chuckled quietly to himself. Soon after, however, something wrapped around his tail, yanking him upwards and leaving him dangling upside-down.

"Gotcha!"

Pascal let out a little squeak of terror before he changed himself back to his natural green, panting heavily. The girl put him back down on the windowsill, giving him a smug look. He flicked her hair off his tail, irritated.

"That's twenty-two for me," the girl recited, flicking some hair out of her eyes. "How about twenty-three out of forty-five?" Pascal's face immediately dropped, sending her an annoyed glare. "All right, fine. What do you want to do?"

The chameleon perked up. Chirping happily, he flicked his tail toward the green grass resting at the bottom of the tower, flowing gently in the breeze. He took a step toward the edge of the windowsill, but the girl hooked her finger around his tail, pulling him back. "I don't think so," she admonished him gently. "We like it in here; so do you." She accented her view by pointing one finger at him. He stuck his tongue out at her, bored.

"Come on, Pascal," she reminded her tiny friend. "It's not so bad in here. We've still got to find big brother and little sister, now don't we?" The chameleon nodded unenthusiastically, hopping down from the windowsill into the room. The moment his feet hit the floor, the girl motioned for him to be quiet. The wardrobe door shifted slightly; a frustrated grumble rose from inside, and a strand of thick, ivory hair fell out and pooled on the floor. Tip-toeing toward the doors, she reached out slowly and carefully grabbed onto the handles, then violently swung them open. A blue-clad figure toppled out, landing in a pile of off-white hair.

"Rapunzel!" the figure, a girl almost exactly the same size and shape as the blonde, sat up and shook her head rigorously. "Why are we playing this, anyway? You _know_ I'm terrible at hide-and-seek."

"Lighten up, Hazel," Rapunzel responded absently, brushing her sister off. "We've got to find our _beloved_ big brother." Hazel's annoyed look melted away, replaced by one of mischief. Together, they scanned the room, searching every single hiding spot, until she decided her brother wasn't there. They turned their attention to the stairs.

Upstairs seemed pretty bland at first as well, before Hazel's eye caught a glimmer of light reflecting off something shiny in her bedroom. She nudged the blonde slightly, pointing to the shine. An idea formed in Rapunzel's head, and the two of them snuck into the room. "Anyone in here?" Rapunzel called softly, eyes falling on the source of the shine: a pile of thick copper-colored hair. When no one answered, she moved towards it.

"Well, since no one is in here," she said loudly, making sure he could hear her, "I guess no one would mind if we did _this!"_ With that, she and Hazel threw themselves onto the pile, landing squarely on the center and evoking a sound of displeasure from underneath the pile.

"Ugh," a voice grunted. "Get _off!"_ With a massive shove, the girls were thrown off the pile. Once they hit the floor, a head poked out of the hair, brown eyes hazy with sleep, yet glimmering sharply with annoyance. "Unlike you two, _I'm_ not a morning person. Let me sleep." He buried himself inside the pile once again.

Hazel groaned. "Come on, Eugene, you've been asleep long enough. It's time to get up." She started digging through the hair until she found her brother curled up, pretending to sleep. "I know you're awake."

He opened one eye and glared at her. Then he looked at the elder twin. "Rapunzel, it is _seven A.M._ No one in their right mind would wake up _willingly_ this early."

"Mother does."

"I'm not mother."

"Hazel does. I do."

"I rest my case." Despite his argument, he swung his legs out from the bed, bare feet hitting the wooden floor. "Okay, I'm up. Happy?"

"Yes." Rapunzel nodded, then headed out of the room. "We should start our chores soon."

Eugene groaned.

* * *

The dawn air was slightly chilly as the four men slid down the walls of the castle. Their feet landed silently as they hopped from tower to tower, staying out of sight from the guards. The youngest of the four, probably around nineteen, leaned out over the edge of one of the towers, gazing at the land below.

"Wow," he sighed, "I could get used to a view like this."

"Flynn," his brother's voice snapped quietly behind him, "come on."

"Hold on, Bastion" he shot back. Then he leaned back over to safety. "Yep, I'm used to it. Guys, I want a castle."

"We do this job," one of the other men said impatiently, "you can buy your _own_ castle."

Bastion grasped Flynn's dark hair, which was tied up in a ponytail, and yanked it backwards. "Besides, we're running out of time. If we wait any longer, it'll be transition time, and then we won't be able to sneak in without being seen."

Flynn rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'm going."

The crown glimmered on the pedestal below, taunting him, begging him to take it. Flynn reached out tentatively, his fingers quivering in anticipation. The smooth material was cool, still not yet warmed by the light of the sun. It made the metal hard to hold on to; it was ice cold, and nearly froze Flynn's skin on contact. After a few moments of his hand hovering over the crystals, he tried again. The moment his fingers were wrapped around it, Flynn motioned for Bastion to pull him up.

It only took the guards a couple of moments to realize that something was wrong. One of them turned to check on the crown, and let out a gasp of surprise when he noticed it was gone. "Uh, guys?" he stammered, getting the attention of the other guards. "We've got a problem…"

The alarm call sounded immediately, yet Flynn and his accomplices were already well out of the castle. "Run," Bastion commanded. "Run!" he snapped again louder, as if the three others had not heard him. They bolted off in the other direction, away from the guards.

"All the things we've seen, and it's only eight in the morning!" Flynn exclaimed enthusiastically. "Gentlemen, this is a very big day!"

* * *

Eugene handed Rapunzel a paintbrush. "It fits?"

Rapunzel nodded. "This is a _very_ big day," she told him, her voice almost squeaking as she closed her box. "We're going to do it. We're _finally_ going to ask her!"

Her brother raised an eyebrow. "Ask who what?"

"Mother, silly!" She pointed to the picture she had painted on the wall earlier. It showed a forest at night, three figures sitting in one of the trees, their long hair streaming out behind them. In the sky were hundreds of yellow dots. "I'm going to ask her about the floating lights!"

"And what about them?"

"Well, since our birthday is tomorrow," she gestured between herself and Hazel, "we're going to ask if she'll take us!"

Eugene knew it was a bad idea from the start, and that Mother would probably say no, but before he could say anything, he heard a distinctive voice outside the tower.

"I'm home, children!" It was Mother. "Let down your hair!"

"It's time!" Hazel's excited squeal nearly pierced Eugene's ear. He rubbed it as though he was in pain, trying to send her a clear signal. Hazel simply rolled her eyes at him.

Eugene had the daily chore of hauling Mother up the side of the tower, since his hair was the longest—and Rapunzel's and Hazel's were too _precious._ As he wrapped it around the hook outside the window, Rapunzel pulled the curtains over her painting, letting Pascal crawl on the wall and hide.

"I'm not getting any younger down here!" Mother's irritated cry echoed from down below.

"Coming, Mother." In one swift movement, Eugene tossed the copper waves down to the ground. Mother caught the end, making a large loop and stepping on it, allowing Eugene to pull her up. By the time she set foot on the windowsill, he was panting with exertion. "Hey," he greeted her casually, still trying to catch his breath.

"Welcome home, mother," Rapunzel called from the ledge where she sat above the fireplace.

"Hello, darlings," Mother responded. She then turned to Eugene. "I still have yet to figure out how you manage to do that every day without fail. It looks absolutely _exhausting!"_

"Oh, it's nothing," he replied nonchalantly, shrugging.

"Then I don't know why it takes so long!" She started to laugh and playfully patted his cheek. "Oh, I'm just teasing!" She continued laughing and waved her hand dismissively, passing Eugene and moving on to the mirror on the other side of the room. She was lucky she didn't see the daggers he glared at the back of her head.

Rapunzel hopped down from her ledge and gave a nervous chuckle. "So, Mother," she began quietly, as if she wasn't sure of what she was saying. "As you know, tomorrow is a very special day, and…"

"Rapunzel, look in this mirror," Mother interrupted, pulling Rapunzel toward the mirror. "You know what I see?"

"Uh…"

"I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady." There was a moment of silence. Then she pointed at the mirror. "Oh, look, you're here, too!" She laughed again as a look of dismay passed over Rapunzel's face. Mother gave her a slight nudge. "Oh, darling, I'm just teasing. You two—" she gestured to Eugene as she spoke, "—need to stop taking everything so seriously!" She continued to chuckle lightly to herself and focused her attention back on the mirror.

"Okay," Rapunzel murmured, sounding slightly offended. "So, Mother, as I was saying…"

"Rapunzel, Mother's feeling a bit run down," Mother interrupted again. "Would you sing for me? Then we'll talk."

"Hmm? Oh, of course, Mother!" Rapunzel dashed away, snatching one of the nearby chairs and placing it next to the fireplace. Eugene leaned against the wall by the fireplace as Mother slowly made her way over to the chair. Rapunzel came back with a small stool, placing it in front of the chair. She sat Mother down as she passed, then quickly went to retrieve a hairbrush. Placing some of her golden locks on her mother's lap, she sat down and began to sing rapidly.

_"Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine. Make the clocks reverse, bring back what once was mine."_

"Wait, wait…!" Mother's protest was ignored as the teen went on singing.

_"Heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine."_

Due to the rapid singing, the power that commonly made Rapunzel's hair glow was a bit too much, shocking Mother as she tried to brush it. She threw the hair and brush down, irritated. Eugene tried to stifle a chuckle, but some strange noise between a laugh and a snort escaped his mouth. He knew Mother must have heard him, but before she had the chance to lecture him, Rapunzel had pounced on her and was clinging tightly to her arm.

"So Mother, as I was saying earlier, tomorrow's a pretty big day, and since you didn't really respond, I'm just going to tell you: it's my birthday! Ta-da!"

Mother pried Rapunzel off her arm patiently. "No, no, no, can't be," she denied. "I distinctly remember your birthday was _last_ year."

"That's the funny thing about birthdays, they're… kind of an annual thing!" She sat back and sighed, forcing herself to calm down. "Mother," she began again, "I'm turning eighteen, and what I wanted to ask… what I really want for this birthday… actually what I've wanted for _quite_ a few birthdays…"

"Okay, Rapunzel. Please, _stop_ with the mumbling. You know how I hate the mumbling: blah, blah blah, blah blah, it's _very_ annoying. I'm just teasing, you're _adorable,_ I love you so much!" She sighed and stood up, walking away.

Eugene watched as his sister's expression went from one of hope to one of defeat, and rolled his eyes in annoyance when she didn't retaliate. "She wants to see the floating lights!"

Mother stopped going through her basket and looked up. "What?"

Eugene shot Rapunzel a look, willing her to back herself up. Instead, it was Hazel who responded. "Well," she continued, climbing onto the ledge above the fireplace. "We were hoping that you would take us to see the floating lights." She moved the curtain away, revealing Rapunzel's painting.

"Oh," Mother paused for a moment. "You mean the stars."

"Here's the thing," Eugene put in again. He tossed a lock of hair upward toward the ceiling. The ends wrapped around a handle and he pulled open a door, letting in a beam of sunlight. The light landed on the opposite wall, lighting up a star map painted on the stone. "I've charted stars, and they're _always_ constant." Rapunzel flashed him a grateful glance, happy that he was backing her up. Eugene didn't respond in any way.

Hazel focused back on Mother. "But these…" She gestured to the painting. "They appear every year on my birthday, _only_ on my birthday. I can't help but feel that… they're meant for me. I need to see them, Mother." Her look suddenly became grave. "I have to know what they are."

"Children." Mother's tone was serious.

Rapunzel met her mother's gaze levelly. "Yes?"

"Don't _ever_ ask to leave this tower again."

Rapunzel's face fell. "Yes, mother."

* * *

It wasn't until they got into the forest that the Rider brothers and the Stabbington brothers came to a halt, out of breath and needing to recuperate. Flynn fixed his brother with an intense stare.

"Why are we running away from the guards?"

Bastion gave him a strange look, as if he had suddenly grown another head. "So we don't get arrested?" The statement came out sounding more like a question than a response.

Flynn shook his head. "That's so predictable, though. They'll know right where to find us. If it were up to _me,_ I'd run towards them! They'd never see it coming!"

The look Bastion gave him now was even more ridiculous than the one before. "Sometimes, Flynn, I wonder how we're even _related."_

One of the Stabbington brothers stepped in front of Flynn before he could snap back at his brother. He took Flynn's face in his hands and slapped him square across the cheeks.

"Ow!" he yelped, one hand shooting up to his face, touching his injured cheek gently. "What was that for?"

"For not paying attention!" he snarled, pointing up at the rocks behind them. Flynn spun around and saw the guards that had been pursuing them.

He looked back at the large man. "Well, then, what are we waiting for?"

He rolled her eyes impatiently. "Come on, you moron!" He snatched Flynn's wrist and yanked him forward, half-dragging him until he started running on his own. They rounded a corner and Bastion suddenly slid to a halt. The Stabbington brothers nearly crashed into him, and Flynn was sent skidding past them, staring at what lie ahead.

It was a cliffside, stretching high into the sky.

"There's no time to go around," Bastion decided hastily. He pointed at Flynn. "Take the satchel and run as fast as you can in that direction." He pointed to his left. "The brothers and I will lead them in the opposite direction, and we'll meet up at the rendezvous point."

_Rendezvous point?_ Flynn was utterly confused. He didn't remember any part of the plan involving a rendezvous. Even so, he refused to let it show on his face; his brother already ridiculed him enough.

There wasn't time to ask, anyways. Before he knew it, the three large men were sprinting away from him, and he heard the horses steer in their direction. Following his brother's instructions, Flynn took off in the opposite direction. Despite their distraction, however, one of the guards had noticed him running away. The man was distinguished from the others by the white horse he was riding; Flynn guessed that he was the captain of the guard. He quickly shouted something at the other men, then steered his horse in Flynn's direction. Terrified, Flynn ran even faster.

Thinking fast, Flynn's hand grasped around a vine hanging from one of the trees. He swung himself around, ending up nearly behind the guard. The man held up his crossbow, but had no time to shoot it, as Flynn had thrust his feet out and kicked him to the ground. Landing on the horse, he grabbed the reigns and hoped that the horse wouldn't notice the sudden change in rider.

Of course, the universe wasn't that kind to him. Almost immediately, the horse skidded to a stop, frozen in place like a statue. He whipped his head around to glare at Flynn.

"Come on, fleabag," Flynn snapped, digging his heel in the horse's side. "Forward." The horse was nowhere near ready to comply. Instead, he began to snap at the satchel Flynn was holding, trying to grasp it in his teeth. For a few moments, it was mainly Flynn trying to keep his satchel away from the horse until it was accidentally flung out of his hand. It landed on a branch overhanging a cliff, dangling precariously over the edge.

There was only a brief moment where neither Flynn nor the horse would do anything. Then the fight exploded once again, tripping each other and biting the other's ankle to pull them down. Flynn flung himself at the horse's head, desperately trying to reach his prize, but he fell off, landing on the underside of the branch. Carefully, yet quickly—as the horse was trying constantly to step on his fingers and dislodge him—Flynn maneuvered himself along the branch, grabbing the satchel the moment it was within reach.

That moment, however, the branch gave a threatening crack. Then it broke completely.

As they fell, the branch hit a rock jutting out from the side of the cliff, splitting the branch in half. Hitting the ground below was painful, but Flynn managed to crawl behind one of the scattered boulders, hiding from the horse as he sniffed around for the criminal.

He placed his hand on the ivy-covered stone behind him, trying to regain his balance, only to find it give way completely beneath his hand. Hearing the horse coming, Flynn thought fast once again and skittered behind the ivy veil. The horse obviously did not see him, since he continued on past Flynn's hiding spot.

Flynn knew he had no choice but to follow where the rocks led him. And, just as luck would have it, he came upon a wide open clearing, surrounded by stone walls and trees. In the center of this clearing was a very tall stone tower. Knowing he couldn't stay hiding behind rocks forever, Flynn took two of the arrows that had fallen out of the horse's equipment and began to scale the wall of the tower.

The window at the top of the tower was open, but it was dark inside. Not really caring either way, he climbed in and slammed the shutters shut, blocking out all sources of sunlight. Finally in quiet darkness, he opened the satchel and sighed. "Alone at last," he murmured quietly to himself.

That was the last thing he remembered before something struck him in the back of the head and everything went dark.


End file.
